Laura Glesby Photo
Kaye fills out paperwork after receiving the endorsement.
Hamden Republicans rallied support for 15 candidates running for municipal office on Tuesday night — over twice the number of candidates the party put up for election in 2017.
At a Republican Town Committee convention held Tuesday night at Miller Senior Center, the party endorsed Jay Kaye for mayor. Kaye is focusing his campaign on fiscal responsibility.
The RTC also voted to support two Board of Education candidates and 12 Legislative Council candidates. By contrast, only three Republicans ran for district seats on the legislative council in 2017.
RTC Chair Frank LaDore, who personally encouraged many of the candidates to run, attributed the increase in candidates this year to a mounting frustration amongst Hamden residents with the town’s current state.
“People are getting tired of what’s going on — high taxes, the mill rate, outrageous spending,” he said.
Getting the candidates elected will be an “uphill battle,” LaDore acknowledged. All of the Republicans who ran for District seats in 2017 lost. The last time Hamden had a Republican mayor was in 1999. The town’s Legislative Council currently has two Republican representatives, the minimum number guaranteed by Hamden’s charter for minority party members.
As of the most recent count, Hamden has 16,744 registered Democrats, 3,909 registered Republicans, 419 voters affiliated with other parties, and 11,464 unaffiliated voters.
In the Nov. 5 general election, Kaye will face either incumbent Mayor Curt Leng, who won the Democratic Party’s endorsement last week, or Lauren Garrett, who’s seeking to challenge Leng in a Sept. 10 party primary.
“On November 6th, Jay will be the new mayor of Hamden,” LaDore declared when he nominated Kaye Tuesday night.
He argued that Kaye os up to the task of “facing problems, balancing the budget, and stopping the spending.”
Jay Kaye.
In a speech accepting the endorsement, Kaye promised to “restore the quality of life to those who have seen it slip away and improve the quality of life to those who have been left out.”
He also vowed to bring an “efficient, open, and professional” work ethic to the office.
After his formal remarks, Kaye said that repairing the town’s financial straits would be his top priority if he wins the mayoralty.
“Starting on day one, I would make sure that our financial team is put together,” he said. In particular, he said he would hire a finance director, and possibly also a town manager.
Kaye grew up in Hamden. More and more, he said, he’s noticed that people are leaving the town due to raised taxes.
While “nothing would make us happier than to lower the mill rate,” Kaye said he doesn’t plan to do so.
“You can’t really lower taxes,” he said. “That’s how deep the hole is.”
Kaye said his experience at Ferraro’s Painting and Restoration would inform his approach to being mayor. As a production manager, Kaye leads a team of employees, ensures that the company is making a profit, and works to keep customers happy.
“A lot of that applies to being mayor, except the customers are the people of Hamden,” he said.
After endorsing Kaye, the RTC voted to support 12 candidates for Legislative Council positions. One Republican candidate is running for every district in Hamden except for District 5, where incumbent legislator Justin Farmer received an endorsement for reelection from the Democratic Town Committee. The RTC also voted to support four candidates running for at-large representatives; Republicans are guaranteed at least two of the six at-large seats, as per the town’s charter.
Kaye stood up a second time to nominate a candidate to represent the 6th district: his wife, Karlen Meislen. (Meislen was unable to attend the convention herself.)
Marjorie Bonadies.
Marjorie Bonadies, who currently serves as a representative-at-large on the Legislative Council, received an endorsement to run in the 9th district this time around.
Bonadies said that her decision to run in the 9th district was a strategic move. “I’m trying to expand our footprint,” she said, projecting that if she runs to represent the 9th district, Republicans have a greater chance of landing more than the two required at-large positions on the council.
“One-party rule hasn’t worked well for Hamden,” she said, citing a Yankee Institute report that named Hamden as Connecticut’s most fiscally-distressed municipality.
If elected, Bonadies will serve a fourth term on the Legislative Council. She represented the 9th district for her first two terms in office before moving to the at-large slot.
At-large legislator Betty Wetmore also received an endorsement for reelection.
Some of the endorsed candidates are familiar faces; others were new recruits. LaDore said he had been working hard to encourage more Republicans to run for office. One candidate, Marsha Walsh, had called him just that morning, agreeing at the last minute to run to represent the 4th District.
Dian Lewis.
One of the new candidates running for an at-large seat is Dian Lewis, who echoed criticisms of high taxes.
“Hamden is so expensive,” she said. Lewis runs an in-home nursing business, VIP In Home Care Services. She moved to Hamden from Jamaica in 2011.
The RTC also endorsed the following candidates: Vic Mitchell and Gary Walsh for the Board of Education; Austin Cesare and Dolphus Addison for representatives-at-large on the legislative council; Deb Rigné for 1st District representative; James Anthony for 2nd District; Henry Veloza for 3rd District; Tom Figlar for 7th District; and Salmin Halmid for 8th District.
Kudos to Kaye for having the integrity to acknowledge up front that this town's taxes aren't going to be reduced anytime soon given the financial hole we're in. That type of honesty about the challenges we face is such a refreshing contrast to the attempted deceptions and fantasy-based budgeting of the current Mayor. Both of the Mayor's challengers (Kaye and Garrett) strike me thus far as far more serious about the town's finance than the Mayor is.